Sony UBP-X800-thoughts and questions

[mechman]

I don't have any problem with Amazon video on it. What was the issue?

See post number 2. Looks like it was some setting in the menu system that had to be changed.

 

[mechman]

Picked one up for the theater room. Can't beat the price and I don't need Dolby Vision as I don't think that will be coming for projectors any time in the next decade.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Picked one up for the theater room. Can't beat the price and I don't need Dolby Vision as I don't think that will be coming for projectors any time in the next decade.

Cool!

Well as our video guru please let me know what you find out in terms of settings that provide the best performance with projectors.

I've noticed something with it, but I noticed it on my PlayStation 3 as well. Black levels are elevated with streaming video services as compared to a Blu-ray. I don't notice this when hooked to a tv nor was it very obvious when using a streaming stick instead. Does Sony somehow raise the black levels or use less of the "range" available? Maybe all streaming services do this and always have and I just didn't notice.

 

[mechman]

It may be a bit, but I'll check it out. Keep in mind that I don't have a HDR projector yet. So the 1080p signal may be different than the 4K HDR signal from the UBP-X800. I'll try to check it out tomorrow.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

It may be a bit, but I'll check it out. Keep in mind that I don't have a HDR projector yet. So the 1080p signal may be different than the 4K HDR signal from the UBP-X800. I'll try to check it out tomorrow.

I don't have a 4K projector either. This is all with 1080p signals.

I have a 4K UHD tv from Samsung in my bedroom, oddly enough, the only place I have one. Planning to upgrade the living room soon, but I have a Panasonic Plasma that has been too good to let go of for now.

Please take a look maybe at the black levels and let me know what you think. I've tried a bunch of things and its consistent. I rented movies on Vudu that I owned, and you could clearly see the difference. I watched movies from Amazon and Netflix that I owned or rented on Blu-ray and again, saw the same issue.

At first I had thought it was just that my JVC RS1 was so old that its black level wasn't up to snuff and I was seeing its weakness, but once I throw on a Blu-Ray, I again see the magic JVC blacks.

Maybe I have a setting on the JVC setup wrong? What Setting could possibly allow Blu-Ray to look right, but Streamed sources to look wrong?

 

[mechman]

Matt, I looked into it today using Star Trek as my guideline. I did not see any difference in black levels between the blu-ray and the streamed version. I did notice that the blu-ray looked a bit better detail-wise. I also tested streaming with the Amazon Fire 4K Ultra HD. The blacks were a bit washed and the contrast was awful when compared to the blu-ray. Streaming via the UBP-X800 appeared to give a much better image than the AF4KUHD.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Matt, I looked into it today using Star Trek as my guideline. I did not see any difference in black levels between the blu-ray and the streamed version. I did notice that the blu-ray looked a bit better detail-wise. I also tested streaming with the Amazon Fire 4K Ultra HD. The blacks were a bit washed and the contrast was awful when compared to the blu-ray. Streaming via the UBP-X800 appeared to give a much better image than the AF4KUHD.

Now I think I might have the settings wrong on my unit or on the projector.

Any thoughts on what settings I might have that could be effecting the black level? Maybe share the settings you have on the Sony, I can at least replicate those and then play with the projector to see what is going on.

 

[mechman]

My settings are out of the box. I haven't meddled around in the settings at all yet. It could be that the blacks on my Epson 3010 aren't all that good so it doesn't matter the source? Outside of the Amazon Fire dongle anyways. I did look at it on the Apple TV 4K and my C7. It looked comparable to what I saw on the projector. I'll compare it to the Blu-ray but I doubt it will help your problem.

Those little annoying things really get under our skin don't they? lol

 

[mechman]

Ok I moved upstairs and I’d have to say that I can see no discernible difference between the Blu-ray and the Apple TV 4K. The Apple TV 4K may be slightly better but that’s probably attributed to Dolby Vision.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

My settings are out of the box. I haven't meddled around in the settings at all yet. It could be that the blacks on my Epson 3010 aren't all that good so it doesn't matter the source? Outside of the Amazon Fire dongle anyways. I did look at it on the Apple TV 4K and my C7. It looked comparable to what I saw on the projector. I'll compare it to the Blu-ray but I doubt it will help your problem.

Those little annoying things really get under our skin don't they? lol

I hate those problems! I’ll try to figure out what’s going on.